June 14, 19C6 



1HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



509 



4. To remove a super should one wait until the honey is all 

 capped? 



5. Is there any advantage in a hive having a portico in front ! 



Pennsylvania. 



Answers.— 1. As early as the last of May it is not usual for bees 

 to hang out in that way, and results from the fact that the colony is 

 too large for the hive they occupy, or else that it is too warm for them. 

 An entrance } ..xS is pretty small for a strong colony on a hot day, and 

 If you can not make it larger you can give them a little ventilation 

 above by allowing the cover to be partly open. 



2. I wouldn't be in a hurry to cut out that frame, for it is likely 

 they can rear brood in it all right if they want to. If you want to 

 make sure whether they can or not, uncap the sealing of the comb 

 and put it in the middle of the brood-nest, and you will probably find 

 brood in it a week later. It is possible that in some way there is not 

 as direct communication as desirable between the brood-chamber and 

 the super. It will help to 6tart the bees at work in the super if you 

 put in it a piece of comb on which the bees have already worked, with 

 either honey or brood, although empty comb that has been drawn out 

 will do very well. 



3. Right away after you get the bees of the swarm in the hive. 

 Don't wait to get a few scattering bees in ; they can find the swarm 

 where you put it, or else they can go back to the old hive. If you 

 leave the hive standing till dark before putting it on its stand, as was 

 formerly the custom, there is some danger that scout bees which found 

 a suitable place will coax away the swarm to that place. At least, 

 that is said to be the case. 



4. No, if you wait till the outside sections at the corners are 

 sealed, the central ones will become darkened. However, that doesn't 

 hurt the taste of the honey, rather improves it, and if you want the 

 honey for your own table, caring for the taste and not the looks, then 

 there is no harm to have the central combs darkened. But the market 

 demands sections of snowy whiteness. 



5. It protects the bees against rain when they are clustering out. 

 But it makes the hive warmer on hot days, and it furnishes a good 

 place for spiders. 



Likely Not Foul Brood 



Will you kindly tell me if the enclosed sample is foul brood? 



Arkansas. 



Answer. — I am not an expert in foul brood, but I don't think 

 there is any foul brood in the sample sent. It looks like chilled 

 brood. If there has been no chance for chilled brood, poisoning may 

 come in for suspicion, with just a possibility of something like pickled 

 brood. You see I don't know very much about 6uch things, and any 

 one who has anything in that line should send a sample to N. E. 

 France, General Manager of the National Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 Platteville, Wis. If not a member, send Mr. France a dollar to make 

 you a member. 



A Little Foul Brood 



-Queen Excluder Under Extracting 

 Supers 



I left a shallow extracting super on nearly all of my bees last win- 

 ter. Some died, and I found a few colonies lightly affected with foul 

 brood; say 10 to 50 cells in a hive failed to hatch. The combs in the 

 supers were perfect — never had brood in them. 



1. Is there any— or much— danger of such combs being affected! 



2. If so, would I be the gainer or loser to put those supers on 

 colonies that I will transfer into clean hives with comb foundation 

 starters next spring? 



3. Does it pay to use queen-excluders over the brood-chamber for 

 extracting? Or would it pay better to let the queen lay where she 

 pleases, and only extract frames with no brood and 6ealed brood? 



Oregon, 



Answers.— 1. It is not likely there will be any danger from using 

 them. 



2. You ought to gain by the value of the combs. 



3. I don't know. A great many consider excluders indispensable 

 when working for extracted honey, but so good a bee-keeper as C. P. 

 Dadant says he has no use for excluders under his extracting supers. 



No Queen Excluder Under Sections 



Would it be advisable for me to use a queen-excluding honey- 

 board when I run for comb honey? I never have had any trouble 

 with queens or drones going up into the sections? It seems to me 

 that the bees can work better in the supers without the board. 



Missouri. 



Answer,— If your queens never go up into the sections, what 

 good can an excluder do? I can not say that my queens never go up 

 into the supers, for once in a great while one does go up, but I would 

 rather stand the inconvenience of those few times than to have ex- 

 cluders, so I never use them under sections. 



Destroying Ants in Hives 



How can I destroy ants? 



My hives are just covered with them. 

 Minnesota. 



Answer.— If the ants have their nest under the hive or some- 

 where near, pour gasoline or kerosene upon them. If their nest is 

 inside the hive, it is because there is a warm place there for them 

 where the bees can not get at them. Powdered borax sprinkled in 

 such places helps to make them disagreeable for the ants, but the best 

 way is to have no place for shelter where the bees can not get at the 

 ants to rout them. If quilts are kept over the frames, that suits the 

 ants exactly, but with only a fiat cover over, the ants can find no 

 place safe from the attacks of the bees. 



Reports cmb 

 (fxpertences 



Watering Place for Bees 



I am taking 2 bee-papers, and while I am 

 able to keep bees I can not see how I can get 

 along without them. I learn many kinks by 

 reading the experiences of others, that save 

 me much time and labor to work them out 

 myself. 



The little item in the Journal a few weeks 

 ago about providing warm water for bees by 

 means of a lamp under a suitable pan, is 

 alone worth the subscription price of the 

 paper in this late, cold spring. Only in place 

 of a pan I made a neat, wooden trough 10x20 

 inches in size, with a galvanized-iron bottom, 

 and I find it is just the thing. An empty 500- 

 section crate with a little fixing makes an 

 ideal box to put the lamp in, and to set the 

 trough on, and the lamp from the Daisy foun- 

 dation fastener, with an inch block under it, 

 is just right for the business. If the water 

 thus warmed is put out early in the spring, 

 and the bees attracted to it by means of pieces 

 of comb, they will commence using it before 

 they get in the habit of getting water else- 

 where, and will stick to it instead of going to 

 roadside ditches and other places far away 

 from home, where they get chilly water and 

 thousands never get home, and that in a time 

 of the year when every bee is needed in the 

 hive. 



I find a good plan is to fill the trough with 

 lukewarm water in the morning, then turn 

 the lamp just high enough to keep the water 

 warm enough. A 1 . 2 -inch board large enough 



just to go inside the trough, and bored full of 

 %-inch holes, makes an ideal float. 



Bees wintered fairly well outdoors, but con- 

 sumed much honey and need feeding now. 

 There is much fruit-bloom, but the weather 

 is too cool for bees to get much benefit from 

 it. A. H. Snowberger. 



Huntington, Ind., May 8. 



A Home-Made Swarm Catcher 



I enclose a drawing of a swarm catcher that 

 I made myself. It is not patented, and any 

 one with a little mechanical skill can make 



the lid. Now give the pole a quick push up 

 against the limb, when the bees will fall into 

 the box. Release the string and the rubber 

 band will close the lid. 



Dump the bees in front of the hive, and if 

 they are not all caught use the box a second 

 time. 



I also have an 18-foot pole with a hook on 

 the end, and if the bees persist in returning 

 to the limb of the tree, hook the pole over the 

 limb and keep shaking the limb until all come 

 down and go into the hive with the swarm. 



I like this arrangement better than the 



The Kilgore Home-Made Swarm Catcher and Shaking role. 



one. I have all my queens clipped, but occa- 

 sionally I have a second swarm, and if the 

 bees settle high up in some valuable fruit-tree 

 I can get them without climbing or cutting 

 the tree. 



To make it, get a small, light pine box 

 about 8x10 inches. Knock off two sides of it 

 and replace them with wire cloth, which will 

 make it still lighter in weight. Fasten two 

 small hinges to the top for a lid. 



Now get an IS foot light pole; fasten the 

 box to the end of the pole, as shown in the 

 picture, and fasten a short rubber band at A 

 to pull the lid shut. Then fasten a stout cord 

 at B on top of the lid, and have it go over the 

 pole at C and run down to the bottom. 



To operate the swarm catcher, push the 

 box up to the swarm, pull the string and open 



Manum swarm catcher. My outfit is a success 

 with me, and I could not do without it. 

 London, Ohio. S. G. Kilgore. 



Black Bees vs. Italians— Large Hives 



'Tis not always gold that glitters. 'Tis not 

 always beauty that shines. Though often 

 designed to construe another meaning, yet it 

 will very fitly apply to the fakes and fancies 

 in the apicultural field of to-day. 



What is the prime object of the toilsome 

 bee-keeper as he launches his little craft upon 

 the sea of apiculture? Is it fame' Is it 

 glory? No. Canst thou, by taking thought, 

 add one cubit to thy stature, or canst thou 

 make one hair white or black i Well do I re- 

 member as I scan backward across the ledger 



